KEY LARGO

KEY LARGO recycles
the storyline (a gangster on the lam who holds several people hostage)
of THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936), but the differences between the two
films reflect America's
fears at the time each was made. Although the repeal of
prohibition had reduced gangster activity significantly throughout the
nation, it was still a palpable threat in the mid-1930s, such that
PETRIFIED FOREST's wandering poet Leslie Howard is willing to sacrifice
himself if it means ridding the world of one more thug like Duke Mantee
(played by Humphrey Bogart in his first major screen role).
By
the end of World War II, after Nazi Germany had shown the world horrors
that made gangster activity seem benign by comparison, such
self-sacrifice seemed more foolhardy than noble.

In KEY LARGO,
Bogart plays a war veteran who determines that the threat posed by
gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) is nothing compared to the
atrocities he's witnessed, and he declares "One Johnny Rocco more or
less isn't worth dying for." He's right, in a way, but
eventually
comes to realize the importance of fighting evil of any
magnitude.

The was the last
screen teaming of
Bogart and Bacall, playing roles that allowed no room for their usual
suggestive chemistry. The film belongs to Edward G. Robinson,
who
captures
all the layers of Johnny Rocco's menace and paranoia, in one of the
last gangster roles he would essay. His first appearance in
the
film is both crude and hilarious, as he lounges in the bathtub while
smoking a cigar and reading a newspaper. As director John
Huston
explained the moment, "I wanted to see what the monster looked like out
of his shell." ½ - JL